Life cycle assessment of waste-to-energy: Energy recovery from wood waste in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper presents life cycle assessment for a biomass-fired power plant that utilizes recycled wood waste as fuel. Life cycle analysis of the wood WtE plant was done using SimaPro software using an Ecoinvent 3.4 database and ReCiPe Midpoint impact assessment method. The main concern was given to climate change factor through the evaluation of GHG emissions of the wood WtE plant. The results showed that 31.9 g CO 2 eq of GHG emissions are emitted for every kWh of electricity generated by the wood WtE plant. The emissions value was 96.1% lower than the electricity generated by the national grid, which is 820 g CO 2 eq of GHG emissions. In conclusion, WtE emerged as a sustainable approach in disposing of solid waste while reducing GHG emissions and increasing the share of renewable energy in energy mix simultaneously. A scenario was created to show the relationship between the percentage of carbon emissions reduction that is in line with Malaysia’s commitment to reduce GHG emissions by up to 45% by 2030, hence making the utilization of biomass and solid waste a reliable source of renewable energy as targeted by SEDA Malaysia.